


DLN - 00

by Zalein



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game), Mega Man (Archie Comics)
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Mystery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-16
Updated: 2018-10-16
Packaged: 2019-08-03 03:44:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16318496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zalein/pseuds/Zalein
Summary: “Excuse me, sir? Is your name Connor?”Connor turned and smiled back politely. “Yes, that’s me. How may I help you?”“Oh, wow…” The android’s smile grew larger. Then he seemed to remember himself, and the expression cleared. “Okay. My name is Rock. I’m looking for my brother Blues, who’s currently missing. You’re that android that was working with the police as an actual detective, right? Can you help me?”





	DLN - 00

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally outlined and intended as a full on multichaptered story, including aged-up Light bots and a plot. I've since decided not to write the rest of it, so what we have now is a one-shot. Enjoy!

The first time Markus actually notifies the DPD about a demonstration ahead of time, it’s when they go to protest the massacres. Not the mass android deaths in the recycling plants--those deaths were weeks beforehand, still recent enough for the loss to be raw but old enough to no longer carry the news headlines. The headlines have chased after new tragedies instead, plastering not pictures of the hellish camps, but of smokey streets and strewn bodies.

 

“You don’t have authorization from the city,” Captain Fowler told him flatly. “You’d have to be an idiot to follow through with this. You _know_ there’s going to be another attack. What you’re doing is setting up a stage for further catastrophe.”

 

“We can’t just ignore what’s happened, either,” Markus countered. “If we allow ourselves to be silenced, then we’re showing CyberLife and the US government that they should keep doing this if they want to see us fail.”

 

“Neither of those have even been confirmed as actual suspects--”

 

“You and I both know the reports, Captain,” Markus cut in. “Experimental androids with weapons no one’s seen before? _We_ certainly aren’t the ones building these, especially not if we’re just going to use them on ourselves. Who else has the money, or the resources?”

 

Captain Fowler gritted his teeth until they hurt. “... If you have this protest, we’re going to be forced to arrest all of you. Every last one.”

 

“Be sure to arrest us properly this time,” Markus shot back. “Last time humans just opened fire and shot us to pieces. I’m not telling you this for your permission. I’m telling you this because I know it’s dangerous. As a matter of public safety, please send your men and women to do their best to protect the peace they’ve sworn by. We’re not out to instigate violence, we’re planning a peaceful protest. In three days time, we’re marching along 2nd Street until we reach the intersection where the first slaughter happened. We’ll be closing traffic in all lanes all night.”

 

There was a sharp pain in his jaws and between his eyes. Fowler struggled for control, forcing out the words, “If you do that, people are going to die. I’m warning you--”

 

“Good night, Captain.” The phone went dead.

 

Somehow, Captain Fowler’s week had just gotten a lot worse.

 

\--------------------------------------------

 

Absolute freedom meant a lot of things, Connor soon discovered. It meant a ‘boof!’ in the morning, when Sumo would approach him to be let into the yard. It meant wearing more than one set of clothes, and weighing the pros and cons of ironing all the laundry in the house, not just his own shirts. Did socks need ironing? It didn’t seem common, but it wasn’t as though he didn’t have time. Apparently plain socks could retain ruffles. Who knew.

 

It meant watching Hank leave to work where Connor couldn’t join him, not until labor laws and his status as an actual sentient being was worked out legally. It meant trying to explain why Connor shouldn’t be given just enough independent legal standing to be charged with grand theft automaton, but not enough to defend his actions. It meant spending most of his time outside the house, torn between trying to be useful to androids and trying not to be in the way. There were a lot of new deviant androids these days. None of the ones he’d liberated understood why the older ones seemed wary of him. They didn’t understand the weight of the name ‘Deviant Hunter’. It was causing problems.

 

It meant settling in to a daily pattern of scouting for likely supply locations to discreetly forward back to Markus. Markus was one of the only androids willing to extend even that much trust, and the androids of New Jericho sorely needed the help.

 

Connor narrowed his eyes at the latest storefront, trying to gauge the truthfulness of the sign blinking ‘OPEN’. It was a small business, an android repair shop squeezed between a hardware store and a jewelry store. The lights were on inside, but there were no humans visible in the front room. The windows weren’t broken like the CyberLife store down the street, since this store dealt in repairs, not the androids themselves. He tried the door. It was locked. Were its owners taking an unexpectedly long lunch hour, or had they evacuated along with most of the area?

 

Connor stared through the glass, collecting clues. There was an open cup by the cash register, and a man’s coat left draped along a back counter. Maybe they were present, but had withdrawn to a room in the back while business was low. On impulse he ran a basic reconstruction, watching the wire frame of a man leave his cup, knock over a small pile of clips waiting for inventory, and leave the room.

 

Connor knocked on the door, then waited.

 

Seconds ticked by.

 

“Excuse me, sir? Is your name Connor?”

 

Connor turned.

 

It was instantly apparent to him that they were an android, though for once the model number escaped him. Not CyberLife made, then, especially not with skin that unhumanly smooth. CyberLife had spared no expenses in fitting their androids with textures that wouldn’t inspire discomfort from the uncanny valley effect. Ever since those tests, androids had either been perfect human mimics or not humanoid at all.

 

Connor smiled back politely. “Yes, that’s me. How may I help you?”

 

“Oh, wow…” The android’s smile grew larger. Then he seemed to remember himself, and the expression cleared. “Okay. My name is Rock. I’m looking for my brother Blues, who’s currently missing. You’re that android that was working with the police as an actual detective, right? Can you help me?”

 

A detective. It was probably the first time he’d been called that, since usually people focused on ‘Deviant Hunter’. Even at the station, he was always ‘that android from CyberLife’, not a true member of the team. Connor didn’t know how he felt about this, and his eyes slid back to the storefront.

 

“I’m sorry. I’m no longer working in any assistive positions with the DPD.”

 

“Oh.” The android’s shoulders sagged, face falling.

 

“A lot of androids have taken to staying with New Jericho. Have you asked them, yet?”

 

“I’m new in town.” The android shrugged. “I figured I’d talk with them eventually, but first I wanted to go to the police, like an actual human would. I tried doing that elsewhere, but they wouldn’t let me file a missing persons report.”

 

“Androids don’t register as people in the current missing persons system,” Connor agreed, fighting the urge to fidget. “You would be better off reporting a theft, or checking with New Jericho.”

 

“Oh. Really? Here too?” He looked crestfallen. “... Man. I thought with everything that’s been going on, that things would be better here. I guess not, huh?”

 

Connor said nothing, studying the android. He was built like a young adult male, perhaps late teens, and was both naive and terribly new to the city. Someone like him would be taken advantage of in a very short time if he didn’t learn to be more cynical soon. That, or if he wasn’t surrounded by people who would protect him.

 

Connor held back a sigh. “I can put you in contact with the detective on the DPD currently responsible for handling cases with deviants. He won’t be able to file a missing persons report, but he could scan for possible instances of involvement.” If Connor were still allowed at the station, he could have done it himself, and (in his informed opinion) several times faster, but that wasn’t an option.

 

It was as though the sun had dawned from behind the clouds, and the android’s smile was dazzling. “Really? I want to do that, yes. Thank you so much.”

 

“Alright. Let me give you his phone number. Send him a text, even if he doesn’t reply he’ll still receive it.” Maybe. Eventually. Connor’s skin receded from his hand, and he held it out.

 

The android frowned at the hand, then looked at his own gloved ones. Prying the glove delicately off one of them, he shrugged to himself and reached for Connor.

 

_SYSTEM DOWNLOAD INITIALIZING._

 

Connor yanked his hand back as though he’d been burned, fighting the urge to lash out. That had _not_ been the standard message for data transfer, and the android was staring at him with huge eyes, having snatched his own hand back almost as quickly.

 

“I’m sorry!” the android blurted. “I’m sorry! I didn’t think, I thought it wouldn’t activate for a simple little thing like--” His eyes slid out of focus, and the android became unnaturally still. “... Whoa.”

 

“What was that?” Connor demanded, looking at his still skinless hand again. There was no obvious trace of what had just happened, but he’d felt it in his processors. Something had copied, something that wasn’t supposed to. “What did you just do?”

 

The android was silent for a moment, before looking at him again. “Do you think like this all the time?”

 

“What are you talking about?” Connor snapped, stress making him sharper than usual.

 

“All the… All the observations, and the--the simulation and stuff. I can see a simulation of you over and over. You’re pulling your hand away.”

 

“You’re running a reconstruction,” repeated Connor dumbly, going over the events. “... You just stole proprietary, bulky, experimental software through a hardline transfer in miliseconds.”

 

“I’m sorry!” the android yelped, wincing. “I didn’t mean to. Do you want me to delete it? Because I can delete it, I didn’t mean to take it in the first place.”

 

After a long moment Connor replaced the skin covering his hand, lowering it and nodding.

 

The android nodded too. “Okay. Consider it done. I just did it, it’s all gone now.”

 

Connor had only his word for it, and he was a lot less inclined to trust now. “Alright.”

 

“Sorry again.” The android squirmed. “Um. Look, I know that was really skeevy, but I really am still looking for my brother. Do you think you could help me find him? Or, I don’t know, pass on a message if you see him someday?”

 

Connor debated for several seconds, before slowly nodding.

 

The android looked relieved. “Okay. Okay, thank you so much. Um. He doesn’t look like me, he looks like--” He searched his pockets, and Connor very deliberately did not tense, watching him carefully. From his inside jacket pocket the android produced a physical photo of another android, one covered in the same unnatural skin and smiling next to an old man. He was wearing sunglasses, and both he and the human were wearing clean room suits.

 

There weren’t a lot of features to go on, with the clothes and sunglasses, but Connor assumed the skin alone would be a clear identifier. He stepped back and nodded. “What message would you like me to convey?”

 

“Tell him that Rock is looking for him. Tell him that someone’s taken Wily’s old work, and that I need his help.”

 

“Alright.”

 

“Thank you again.” Rock sighed, this time in relief. He stepped back. “I’ll just… go looking for New Jericho, right now. And I’ll send that text message right away.” Connor said nothing, and after a few seconds the android nodded awkwardly to himself, giving him a pained smile. “Yeah…. Anyway, um, bye.”

 

Connor nodded again, and the android turned and slunk away. He didn’t look back, and it wasn’t long before he’d retreated down the street, turned a corner, and was out of sight.

 

Connor released air through his teeth slowly, turning back to the empty store’s door. It was hard to focus on it when his processors were still distracted by replaying what had just happened, remembering the insidious download and how effortlessly it had slipped past his security.

 

After a little while he shook himself internally, stepping away from the door. He would come back tomorrow. If everything was still undisturbed then that would be an answer itself. He composed a message while he walked away, calling up Markus’ network signature.

 

The android seemed harmless, but a little warning could go a long way.

 

\------------------------------------------------------------

  



End file.
